She spent her youth in Palmerston North. “I’ve definitely done the grungy flat thing.”
Targeting the areas known for having a high percentage of student flats, Russ knocked on the doors of homes displaying telltale signs of student life: couches on front porches, letterboxes on chairs and homemade signs displaying “Te Pubba”.
Fifteen flats appear in the series, including one called “The House of Cheese” and the iconic two-storey house on Albert St that burnt down in December 2022.
The inside and outside of often dilapidated crumbling homes is presented along with graffiti on fences and peace signs on cars.
That flush of freedom of student life – often the first time away from home – is captured in plates of pasta, stolen road signs, contents of fridges, drug paraphernalia and dirty toilets.
Students displaying their tattoos. One difference between student life now and 23 years ago is the size of tattoos, Catherine Russ says. Photo / Sonya Holm
Students themselves feature showing their tattoos, relaxing with cats, sitting on old chairs, and displaying their textbooks or hickeys.
Russ was motivated by creating social documentaries, and to feature Palmerston North which she says often gets a bad rap.
“I was really interested in creating art projects about my city and my people ... I just wanted to record something of that … I was using photographic images to tell a story.”
The exhibit is on display this month at Snails: Artist-Run Spaces.
Co-founder Kirsty Porter says flatting is a rite of passage.
Visitors to Snails “look at these pictures and they have a shared experience of this kind of age of living in a shared house”, Porter says. Her partner coincidentally features in the photos.
Russ is not planning to revisit the theme, but is pleased to see the series back on display.
She has previously covered Ladies Rest in The Square, and photographed twins, the nudist club at Himitangi and the Mothers Motorcycle Club.
Russ owns and operates Thermostat Gallery and co-owns T-shirt dispensary Pork Chop Hill, and is still active in the photography space.
Her series Park Up, featuring people at Pork Chop Hill (Anzac Park Te Motu o Poutoa), was shown at Te Manawa in 2021.
In The Quiet, showcasing buildings in Manawatū, was displayed at Photospace Gallery in Wellington earlier this year, and will be on display at A Gallery in Whanganui in August.
Student flats and cats captured 23 years ago. Photo / Sonya Holm
Her photography work has been supported by funding from Creative Communities and the Earle Creativity Trust.
Snails: Artist-Run Spaces is at 103 Taonui St and is open Fridays, 11am–3pm.
Sonya Holm is a freelance journalist based in Palmerston North.
